The 10 Places I Found Love in Quarantine

Quarantine can be a hopeless place. But as we learned from Calvin Harris and Rihanna, in hopeless places, we can still find love. Here are 10 unlikely, hopeless places that I have found love during quarantine….

1. Limonciello La Croix

During my last trip to the grocery store, I was on the hunt for nutritional essentials like eggs and beans, but I was also keeping my eye open to anything soul soothing like Kraft Mac and Cheese and Vitaminwater. While searching for the latter, I discovered a new LaCroix flavor and decided to take it home with me. Let me tell you, it tastes exactly like LimonCello! Lemony with a hint of vanilla—sweet and smooth. Needless to say, it works great as a mixer.

2. Baby Yoda

I have resisted Disney+ on principle. Why should I have to pay for yet another subscription service? Disney now owns half of the entertainment industry and has become akin to an evil corporate overlord!

This is not to say that I’m backing down on my principles… but listen, it’s a quarantine. There are no more rules. So, I’m currently doing a free trial of Disney+, and I immediately binged The Mandalorian, which turned out to be a very fun space western, complete with a trusty sidekick who lends heart to the rough cowboy. The memes and GIFs of Baby Yoda were adorable, but there is nothing like actually watching him be alive… He is the only truth left in this universe, and we must protect him!

3. The Scandal-versary Live Tweet

Believe it or not, Sunday marked the 8 year anniversary of the Scandal pilot and the first time we heard Olivia Pope utter the words, “It’s handled.” To mark this momentous occasion, the cast of Scandal took to Twitter at 5 P.M. PDT to live tweet the pilot, encouraging fans to watch (the show is currently streaming on Netflix) and tweet along.

Seeing as I had nothing better to do, I pressed play at 5 P.M. and opened Twitter to see all of my forgotten favorites giving me the content I crave. And magically, it was 2012 again. Television’s Golden Age was in full swing, Barack Obama was president (IRL), and Shonda Rhimes was our one, true Drama Queen. For approximately 45 minutes, life was glorious again.

4. Journaling

The quarantine stress dreams are in full swing, folks! It’s my duty to document them. I have casually kept a journal since grade school. Usually, I feel like I don’t have time to just sit and write to myself about my boring day, but now it feels important as an outlet and also as a historical text! These are crazy times, and people are going to want to hear about them!

5. Florence Pugh’s Instagram Stories

Florence Pugh has a cooking show. You can watch it sporadically on her Instagram stories. It’s informative. It’s funny. It’s narrated by a killer accent. Not only does it serve you meal inspo, it serves you fashion inspo as well. Case in point, I searched the internet to locate Florence’s oft-featured Capricorn necklace and purchased it. It will be arriving on April 14th.

6. Fake Doctors, Real Friends

(Yes, I listed this after Florence Pugh on purpose to torture you.)

This podcast comes as I am nearing the end of a Scrubs rewatch with my roommate who is seeing the show in its entirety for the first time. I have also already been delighted by The Office rewatch podcast, Office Ladies, hosted by costars and best friends, Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey.

There is nothing like getting the behind-the-scenes intel on a show you love, presented to you by the actors behind the characters you love! The friendship between Donald Faison and Zach Braff will always hold a special place in my heart because Scrubs has a special place in my heart. They’re dynamic; they’re funny, and they SING THEIR OWN THEME SONG! Download it now.

7. Books

My goal for quarantine was to read books, and that’s actually what I have been doing! I am currently on my fourth quarantine read. As of now, I can recommend Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia for fans of Circe, fairy tales/mythology and the animated film The Road to El Dorado.

If you like Hawaii, The Real Housewives franchise, and Gone Girl, The Goddess by Swan Huntley is for you! Lastly, if you are a fan of American classics a la F. Scott Fitzgerald and societal critiques of the supremely wealthy, then check out House of Mirth by Edith Wharton—be forewarned, it is devastating, as are all of her books.

8. W1A

I discovered this BBC comedy on Netflix while looking for a new comedy to relax with at bedtime. What I got was a satire of the news and television industries that explicitly highlights the incompetence of upper management, the absurdity of meetings that could be emails, and blunders due to lack of communication despite the meetings, where the bulk of time is spent pushing problems onto other departments.

It has a brilliant cast, is extremely British, and is also somehow relatable now that I find myself in two, sometimes three virtual meetings a day, listening to people talk about things that have nothing to do with me and wanting to acknowledge statements that I’m only half listening to by saying, “Oh yes, no, brilliant!”

9. Bon Appetit

Both Bon Appetit’s recipes and their YouTube channel have been my saviors in this dark, uncertain time. I’ve turned to comfort recipes like the Butternut Squash Pasta Bake and roasted sweet potato and squash with crispy chickpeas. I looked around for the odds and ends of what I had and made scallion pancakes, and chickpea salad. And when I need a pick-me-up, the test kitchen is still there, creating fun, wholesome content from their home kitchens. What I’m saying is, you can find the purest kind of love on the Bon Appetit YouTube channel.

10. The Down Dog App

I’m stressed out, and gyms are closed. I’ve found peace through this currently free yoga app. You can select what kind of Yoga you want to practice, what add ons you want to focus on like hamstring stretches or core strength, and the amount of time you want the practice to be. Then, a woman, who I’m pretty sure is an animated simulation, takes you through your flow to the sounds of calming, instrumental music and various pop songs, overlayed by an encouraging, slightly accented voice that provides additional instruction. It is soothing for the mind and an effective form of exercise for the body. Namaste.